Pakistan stocks decline amid profit taking and gas sector concerns

Pakistan stocks saw a profit-booking session on Monday as investors cashed in on recent gains.

Without significant positive catalysts, investor sentiment turned bearish, particularly due to concerns in the gas sector following reports of rising circular debt.

This negative development eroded investor confidence, leading to widespread profit-taking across various sectors.

The cement sector also continued its decline, driven by investor decisions to book profits amidst disagreements among cement companies over market share and geographic sales strategies.

The market was abuzz with rumors that cement cartel will be dissolved leading to a price war among cement manufacturers.

KSE-100 index shed 1.13% or 1,331.86 points to close at 116,255.13 points.

On Monday, Indian stocks dropped by over 1% even though they started off well. The Sensex and Nifty50 went down because banking and consumer sectors didn't do well.

The India VIX, which shows how much the market is changing, went up by 17% because many people were selling their stocks. This affected both medium and small-sized companies in different areas.

The worst-hit sectors were metals, public sector banks, real estate, oil and gas, and financials.

BSE-100 index shed 1.91% or 485.95 points to close at 24,974.30 points.

DFM General Index gained 1.25% or 63.96 points to close at 5,190.70 points.

Commodities

On Monday, oil prices went down because the dollar was strong.

Before that, oil prices had gone up for five days because people were hoping for higher demand due to colder weather in the Northern Hemisphere and more financial help to boost China's struggling economy.

Brent crude prices gained 0.04% to $76.54 per barrel.

Gold prices went up and down last week but eventually bounced back, even though the dollar and US bond yields were strong.

Recent economic data from Europe and the US were mixed but helped support gold prices.

Struggling manufacturing in developed countries also increased the demand for gold as a safe investment.

International gold prices increased 0.15% reaching $2,644.49 per ounce.

Currency

US dollar remained steady against PKR in the inter-bank market. Pakistani currency remained flat at 278.62. In the open market USD was trading at PKR 279.